Maple Tree
by Cold-Zephyr
Summary: Charlie Haas, Miss Jackie and lots and lots of annoyingly cute and cheesy romance! Neither one will ever forget this walk in the park, one fine day in the middle of autumn.


**Maple Tree**

By Cold-Zephyr

Genre: Romance/General

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Nothing. I have nothing to declare, and I own exactly nothing, anyway.

Summary: Charlie Haas, Miss Jackie and lots and lots of cute romance---neither one will ever forget this walk in the park, one fine day in the middle of autumn.

A/N: Well, what can I say---I felt like writing something sickeningly cute again. =) If you hate corny and clichéd fics, stop reading NOW. Don't say I didn't warn ya!

Gray skies had never looked lovelier. Dry, brown leaves crunched under their feet as the couple walked through the small neighborhood park, with Charlie's arm around Jackie as she snuggled up against him, burying her face in his chest to stay warm from the cold air. This park was a place they visited almost everyday, but never got tired of.

They stopped under a massive maple tree, where they stood holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes. "We've shared a lot of memories in this place, you know," Charlie mused as he looked around at the park they were in. Jackie nodded.

"Yeah, we have."

"Remember the first time we met?"

"Of course I do. It was right over there," she said, pointing at the sandbox next to the playground swings. It seemed like almost yesterday when the two of them first met...

_The ten-year-old boy walked sadly to the playground, the wind ruffling his straw blond hair. He was new to the neighborhood, and both homesickness and loneliness were eating away at him. It was bad enough that the poor child had to say goodbye to all his old friends, but the kids here in his new hometown didn't seem to want to befriend him. He felt like a loser. This park was where he spent all his time by himself...it was his refuge, his escape from all the mean kids in the neighborhood. The lonely boy sat down in the sandbox and began etching away on the sand with a twig, figuring it was another day he would spend alone. He'd probably spend the rest of his days alone, too, since no kid here was nice to him, anyway._

_He'd lost himself in his present activity when he sensed someone standing in front of him. He looked upwards from the person's black Mary Jane shoes, to her lace-trimmed socks, up to her checkered dress, and finally to the golden ringlets that framed her pretty face. She was a girl of about the same age as him, and she clutched a doll in her right hand as she waved at him. "Hello there."_

"_Hi," the boy murmured shyly, looking down at the floor. She was the first person to say hello to him the whole time he'd been in the neighborhood._

"_My name's Jackie. What's yours?"_

"_Um...Charlie."_

"_Hello, Charlie. Wanna be my friend?"_

"_Yeah, okay." The boy looked up at her and smiled. "You're nice. I like you."_

_She smiled back. "I like you too."_

"_Hey, Jackie...can we be friends forever?"_

Charlie chuckled, remembering that one day when someone from the neighborhood finally decided to be nice to the new kid. That was the start of a long friendship between Charlie and Jackie, who went to the same school together and stayed the best of friends through their teen years, throughout all the acne, the crushes, the terror teachers, the puppy love.

"Hey Charlie, remember our first kiss?" Jackie mused. "It was right here, under this maple tree."

The young man smiled at her. "How could I forget?"

_Thursday after school was always scheduled for the two best friends' weekly walk in the park. The sky was a nice shade of light blue, with puffy white clouds idly floating along. Many things had changed since their childhood days: Jackie was now a proud member of the cheering squad, and Charlie was the one of the wrestling team's finest amateurs. The one thing that stayed the same, however, was the neighborhood park, which looked exactly like it did seven years ago._

"_How are things between you and Drew?" Charlie inquired. Drew Stevens, the school's most popular quarterback, was Jackie's boyfriend---well, former boyfriend ever since she saw him making out with Cathy, head cheerleader and total ditz._

"_I think I'm well over that loser, thanks for asking."_

"_Well, who's gonna be your date for the prom, then?"_

_The downtrodden cheerleader shrugged and sighed. "I don't know...maybe I won't be going. It's just a stupid prom, anyway." It was very much unlike Jackie to act this way: back when she was still with Drew, Jackie was all excited about prom, and she couldn't wait to go. Given the chance, Charlie would've gone over and given that bastard Drew a good beating for what he did to Jackie. She didn't deserve any of this at all, and Drew definitely didn't deserve a girl like her._

"_Uh, Jackie," Charlie stammered, "I need to ask you something." He looked strangely nervous today._

"_What is it?"_

"_You see..." he anxiously ran his hand through his straw blond hair. His heart was beating faster and faster, his palms were getting sweaty, and the butterflies were fluttering madly in his stomach. The same way that the normally upbeat Jackie was looking so jaded today, Charlie wasn't acting much like himself, either. He opened his mouth to continue his sentence, but no words came out, only silence._

_If Jackie at that moment was puzzled by her best friend's strange behavior, she was absolutely shocked to the core at what he did next: in a quick fraction of a moment, Charlie grabbed her by the arms and crushed his lips against hers. A startled Jackie backed up against the maple tree in surprise at Charlie's action. Now suddenly realizing what he was doing, Charlie let go of her and took a few steps back, refusing to make eye contact with her._

"_Jackie, I'm so sorry---"_

"_Why did you kiss me, Charlie?" After what had just happened, Jackie definitely needed an explanation._

_Charlie exhaled sharply, burying his hands in the pockets of his faded denim jeans. "Drew never deserved you, Jackie. I knew it right from the start. I hated that guy...not only because he was an asshole by nature, but because..."_

"_Because what?"_

_A moment of awkward silence passed between them until he finally gathered the courage to speak again. "...Because I was... I was in love with you, Jackie. I've been hiding my feelings for so many years now, and I waited until it was too late to tell you, 'cause by then, you were already his. I...I'm sorry."_

_She placed a hand on his cheek and turned him to face her. "Oh Charlie," she breathed. "If you'd only told me sooner..." Jackie pulled him closer, and this time around, she was the one who kissed him._

Indeed, Charlie and Jackie had a lot of history together. After that day, the two crossed the border from best friends into more that just best friends, and they were a couple very much in love, until they were forced to part ways in college, having been sent to different schools. Neither one would remain the same after that. Though they managed to move on and start new lives apart, the feeling of being incomplete always lingered in their hearts.

"I missed you like crazy after college," Charlie confessed.

"Glad to know you felt the same way I did."

The two looked on as the cold breeze caused the brown leaves of fall to swirl around them. Jackie snuggled even tighter in Charlie's arms. "I love you, Charlie. I'm so happy our paths finally crossed again."

"I love you too." The couple spent a long moment in contented silence, when he pulled away to look her squarely in the eyes.

"Brace yourself, Jackie: another important moment's about to happen, right here in this park." Jackie's jaw dropped as Charlie got down on one knee and held her hand in his. He reached into his pocket and brought out a small box, and upon opening it, revealed a handsome diamond ring that glimmered beautifully even though the sun was hidden in grayish skies.

He gazed up at her lovely face, like he did years ago as the timid ten-year-old boy looking up at the girl standing in front of him. "Jackie, will you marry me?"

Words seemed to escape her for a moment as she stared down at him, a mix of shock and joy on her face. "Yes, Charlie," she finally replied. "I wanna be yours forever!"

Their hands remained intertwined as they stood facing each other; Charlie smiled at her. "'Forever,'" he repeated and looked towards the trunk of the maple tree. She followed his gaze and found out why that word struck a chord.

Back in their high school days, they had etched words on that tree which, the couple noticed, remained there up to today. And the words would remain there for a long time to come:

_Charlie Jackie = together 4ever_

-FIN-


End file.
